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Wrenelle Stander, group chief executive of Comair, BA’s South African franchise holder, was the Aviation Club’s guest of honour at the RAC last Wednesday (11 March).
Uniquely, due to COVID-19, her talk was via a video link from Johannesburg.Introducing herself with 25 years of aviation and energy industry experience, she painted a broad picture of the South African airline scene, a market comprising 16m annual passengers. Airline services are provided by a mix of state-owned and private carriers. Comair is in fact two airlines, one with British Airways painted aircraft, and Kulula, a low-cost operation. In 2018, it moved 5.8m passengers, has been profitable for the past 10 years but now finds itself with a loss.
Stander joined Comair in October 2018. Her previous posts included deputy CEO of the South African Civil Aviation Authority and director general at the country’s Department of Transport.
South African Airlines and the MAX are Comair’s big problems. SAA was placed in Voluntary Business Rescue on 5 December 2019 and owes Comair around £40m. With the MAX, the first of eight aircraft has been delivered.
Stander summed up her thinking by saying: “It’s been an eventual past few months. If someone told me that joining Comair would be such a rollercoaster, I would not have believed it. However, I would probably still have gone for it”.
The Royal Automobile Club is proving to be a popular venue for the Aviation Club of the United Kingdom.
For full report from FlightGlobal CLICK HERE